


Certain Words You Can't Afford To Lose

by Decepticonsensual



Series: Tiny Important Words [3]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:34:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27090562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Decepticonsensual/pseuds/Decepticonsensual
Summary: Dominus has a plan in place for how he'll inform his husband that he's about to embark on a dangerous undercover mission - one from which he might not come back.  It's a meticulous plan.  Tidy.  Neat.  No room for messy confrontations.Rewind's never been good at sticking to plans.
Relationships: Dominus Ambus/Rewind
Series: Tiny Important Words [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1977247
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	Certain Words You Can't Afford To Lose

**Author's Note:**

> A slight AU (of the "one flap of a butterfly's wings" variety) - what if Dominus actually told Rewind where he was going?
> 
> This fic is part of a series of short fics I wrote on Tumblr for prompts taken from this list: https://decepticonsensual.tumblr.com/post/631057835507286016/two-part-drabble-game
> 
> The prompt for this story was: _love proclamation_ \+ “I’m with you for a reason, stupid.”

In some universes, Dominus never tells him. Rewind finds out too late - from Minimus, perhaps, after Dominus is gone, or from Dominus himself crashing back into Rewind’s life in the worst possible way, and in a form Rewind doesn’t recognise that turns out to be who Dominus always was.

In some universes, Dominus never tells him. But in this one, he does.

Still, the great orator Dominus Ambus, who has given silver-tongued speeches before massive crowds in defence of the personhood of disposables and beastformers, cannot bring himself to admit face-to-face to his own husband that he’s both of those things. Instead, he writes a letter, and leaves the datapad propped up on the bedside table. Then he packs his bags quietly and steals away to catch the first morning shuttle. Prowl, and Dominus’s new deep-cover assignment, are waiting. What Dominus has left for Rewind is intended to be a love letter, a confession, and a goodbye.

__

_My spark, I am telling you this because I love you. And I cannot bear for you to think that my love is a benediction bestowed from on high, the favour of a lord to a servant, like the fuel I gave you when we first met. When I say that we are equal, that we are the same, I don’t just mean in the way that all Cybertronians are equal beneath our plating. I mean that I am like you - no, even that is not honest enough. In the eyes of the world, if the world could see my true form, I am beneath you._

_If I have let you think otherwise for so long, it has been out of fear - fear that the truth will change how you look at me. I have been so selfish. You deserve the truth; you always have. You deserve to know with whom you have shared so much of your life._

____

Dominus gets approximately a dozen steps from the front door before he hears a voice behind him ordering, “Take it off.”

He turns, and finds Rewind with his arms crossed, his visor radiating a rage Dominus has never seen.

“Rewind, I -“

“Take. It. Off.”

For a moment - for a long moment - Dominus stands with his bag over his shoulder, and actually contemplates simply turning and leaving. Things are ending, either way. There’s no guarantee he’ll come back from this assignment, and if he does, it may be decades down the line. He can’t expect Rewind to wait for him.

It would be cleaner. But Dominus has been placing “clean” above “true” for too long, and Rewind deserves better than that.

Dominus steps back into the house, and once the door is securely closed, he steps out of the armour.

Rewind barely seems to take in the bestial new kibble on his husband’s frame. Instead, he marches forward until they’re nose-to-nose. “Good. Now I can at least look you right in the eye while I yell at you. What the frag were you _thinking,_ Dom?”

“I know. I know.” Dominus hangs his head. “I should have told you so long ago. But I… Rewind, the way you look at me lights up my whole world. And I was so afraid of losing that.”

Rewind pokes him square in the chest. “I’m with you for a _reason_ , stupid! And it’s got nothing to do with hero-worshipping Dominus Ambus, the tall, shiny, perfect Knight of Cybertron making speeches on behalf of us poor disposables. You think because I didn’t know your real alt mode until this morning, I don’t know who _you_ are? You think I didn’t know who I was marrying? I’m with you for _you -_ brave, brilliant, hopeful, _idiotic,_ snores-when-he’s-overcharged, chews-the-ends-of-his-styluses, exasperating, wonderful _you._ So don’t you dare tell me that I’m some kind of - of servant, who’s just so grateful for his lord’s attentions. And don’t you _dare_ tell me what I think.”

Dominus gapes at him. “Do you mean that?” When Rewind gives him a withering look, he hastily amends, “No, I’m sorry, of course you mean what you say.” He cringes a bit. “I’ve made a mess of this all, haven’t I?”

“Yeah. But whether it’s a mess we can get past - well, that depends. Are you gonna take that bag you packed without telling me and just vanish on me? Or are you gonna come back and sit down with me, and tell me everything?”

Dominus’s spark whirrs in panic. But… what he was afraid of has come to pass. Rewind knows the worst of it. And Rewind is still here.

Dominus sets his bag down. Prowl can wait… and if he can’t wait, he can find someone else. “I’ll tell you.”


End file.
